Forty Thousand Reasons
by Nuclotei
Summary: Every word she spoke was a lie. Halsey knew the truth all along, and in order to continue to cover up her mistakes and the mistakes of the UNSC she'd do anything. He was done following orders, and his first line of business? To get her back. (Set after the events of Halo 4. Cortana/Chief )
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Set after the events of Halo 4. Will be reversing some canon for the sake of the story, specifically how Cortana was created. My technical knowledge of Halo is limited, but I'll try to make it as technical as I can get for descriptions of armor, ships and weapons. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any of it's characters. I just screw them up for the purpose of entertaining fans.

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Forty Thousand Reasons

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Chapter One

Solitude.

It was if he were completely alone in the world.

A single being in a wasteland with nothing but deafening silence that only brought madness.

Behind his helmet his eyes were closed, the armor plating of his forearms resting on his armor plated thighs as his form was hunched over, and the deafening silence swamped him.

He suffered. He _was _suffering but no one would ever know.

"Chief?" The sound of his title was jarring, and though his form didn't move, his eyes opened slowly.

The floor in front of him was metal, grated to help with stability and to be slip resistant, and it was gray.

"Master Chief?" His head lifted turning his gaze upwards to the woman who stood before him, a technician with her brown gaze cast down at his prone form, concern evident there, though she took his movement for a response as she watched her own reflection in the orange of his visor. "They're ready for the debriefing."

He shifted his arms, planted his palms down on his thighs and pushed himself up, now looking down at the small woman in front of him. He could hear her exhale in surprise, first time she'd ever seen him no doubt, he was used to the look of amazement.

"R-right this way." Turning her back to him she hurried out of the room, her slicked back hair, trapped in a pony tail holder bouncing as she moved, her white jacket brushing against the back of her black pant covered calves.

He was trained to notice everything, and he followed his training well. Moving out after her, his heavy footfalls sounded on that cold steel floor and he followed her out of the empty room he had found himself in and down a hallway.

People automatically moved out of his way, they also stopped what they were doing to gawk and whisper, some saluted, and some looked bitter. They thought the war hero was just lucky, his genetically engineered form was a godsend, that's the only reason why he performed so well.

He thought nothing of any of them, his mind blank as he continued to follow the woman with the brown eyes.

She lead him into a room, a conference room with a large table, where high ranking members of the UNSC sat, some with grim faces, some smug. Projected on the screen behind them was a woman, older, with short bobbed hair and as his gaze turned to the screen his steps faltered, but only barely as he moved to stand in the designated spot.

"John-117." The screen greeted him and behind his helmet his eyes squeezed closed.

"Doctor Halsey." His greeting sounded as always, formal, devoid of emotion.

"Master Chief Petty Officer John-117." Standing at attention brought him to his full height of 7'2" and he raised his chin.

"Sir."

And that was how it started.

The events of the time that had passed since Cortana had awakened him on the destroyed _Forward Onto Dawn _was stated, then restated and the questions that came were answered again and again. He answered everything and anything as was his duty, he repeated himself without hesitation, he told them everything. Everything but...

His internal reflection was interrupted; he pushed the memory aside.

"Your armor, the upgrade that was given to it is undetectable and unable to be recreated. The program on the data is locked in the severely damaged memory banks that was no doubt a side effect of the blast you endured." His eyes turned to Halsey on screen as a commanding officer spoke to him, though no one would know he ever looked away.

"While I was in cryosleep, Cortana made the changes." It was the first time he had said her name, since…

"During rampancy?" He eyes turned back to the sitting man with the graying hair, dressed in the uniform of an officer of the United Nations Space Command.

"I do not know when her rampancy started, sir." She had tried to hide it from him. Tried to act as if everything was okay.

"Your current armor will be decommissioned. It will be replaced with the standard Mark V armor."

Inside of his suit, his muscles tightened even as the calmness of his voice spoke, betraying the emotion that stirred within him.

"Yes sir."

"Is there anything you want to say?"

The question caught him off guard and his head lowered slightly before he looked back up at the men in front of him before finally turning his body towards the screen where Catherine Halsey sat, watching the proceedings.

"I am sorry." Was all he said, his voice as monotone as always and he straightened once again.

"It was unusual for an A.I. to last as long as that one did. Cortana would have been decommissioned over a year ago, on her seventh year had it not been for the two of you being lost. We will find you another suitable A.I. to fit your needs. Perhaps even another Cortana model." Halsey spoke, her voice was cold, uncaring.

It was just a computer program, a piece of equipment. As expendable in the end as he was to them every day.

"You are dismissed." Giving a salute Master Chief turned and moved to walk out of the door.

_Chief..._

The screen in his visor flickered, barely, but he noticed and paused, head lifting, shoulders straightening as he thought he heard her.

Shaking his head only slightly he moved out of the room, the door swinging shut behind him.

"Right this way Master Chief." It was the brown eyed girl again. "We'll have that old armor off of you in no time, get you resituated in case of need then have you off to rest."

Rest? What was that?

"Cryosleep?"

The technician looked back at him over her shoulder, startled. "No, no sir. You're being put on mandatory leave."

He said nothing as he followed her down the hall.

He was alone, and everything that was hers was going to be taken from him.

As his boots sounded in the hall, they seemed to echo as he walked out into a bay of technicians, and men and women in armor. Sunlight streamed in through dimmed windows that overlooked the Earth, haloed in the Sun's light.

'_Before this is all over, promise me you'll figure out which one of us is the machine.'_

He stopped in the middle of the walkway and turned to look at the light of the sun, and felt no warmth, he felt nothing.

"You were real to me." Spoken softly he turned his gaze away from the star and once again followed the brown eyed technician.

…

Catherine Halsey sat back in her chair as the screen in front of her turned to show nothing but the UNSC emblem and pinched the bridge of her nose.

There had been such high hopes for Cortana, but she suffered rampancy just like all of the others. The hope of metastability had been lost, and now the husk of Cortana was nothing but disposable.

Annoyance flooded her as she stood, moving out of the conference room in the station she was currently residing in to continue her research, of course provided off the record by the UNSC.

The UNSC had done nothing but criticize the Spartan-II program, shut it down, and yet the savior of the human race was none other than one of the children that had lived through the experimental process. Her funding should have been returned, the program should have been reopened.

As she walked down a hallway, void of people she glanced at a door that was restricted to everyone but her, incapable of being over ridden and paused to press her hand to the cool metal.

"Such a disappointment." Halsey stated as she dropped her hand to her side, and moved to her quarters.

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A/N: Tell me what you guys think thus far. Chapters will be longer in the future.

…Nuclotei


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's the next chapter! I got a few reviews not liking how I portrayed Halsey…please remember this is a fan fiction which means I'm going to twist the hell out of some characters to make them into what I need for the story. In this Halsey is going to be a bitch, I'll just throw that out there. A cold and uncaring bitch. XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any of it's characters. I just screw them up for the purpose of entertaining fans.

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Forty Thousand Reasons

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Chapter Two

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_Sunlight shown through the branches and leaves of the tree and she squinted up through the colorful leaves, flames of orange, red and yellow and grinned. Reaching out her small hand tried to grasp each as if trying to catch a falling star and each time she managed a giggle bubbled out from her. _

"_Make a wish." The words were whispered to her, around her and the young girl of seven nodded in enthusiastic vigor. _

"_I wish…!" Sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth her brows furrowed downward in concentrated thought, the leaves forgotten as they fell around her like snowflakes._

"_Make it an important wish." The voice of the woman spoke to her and the little girl with the short light brown hair closed her blue eyes, bringing her hands up to her chest, fists closed around a crumpled red leaf._

"_I wish…" She concentrated._

"_I need you." The woman's voice spoke again around the child and the sunlight dimmed out, trapped behind a dark cloud._

_Opening her eyes quickly the girl gazed around. "Me?"_

"_Wake up…" The voice distorted. "…I need you." The clear fall day distorted just like the voice did, lines running through it like it was projected on a screen and the leaf turned brown in the little girls grip, crumbling to dust. _

"_W-wait! I haven't made my wish yet!" Looking up at the tree she stumbled backwards as those leaves too turned brown and were blown away in the wind. "Wait!" Reaching out towards them her hand was caught by another hand slightly wrinkled with age._

"_They aren't for you, those wishes were never yours to have. They belonged to another girl, you're not even real." Cold blue eyes didn't match the compassion in the voice as that hand reached out, stroking the little girls hair gently. _

"_I'm…I'm real." She tried to insist though she felt as if the earth shifted under her._

"_You're just a shadow, of me." Taking the child's chin in her hand the silver haired woman smiled. "An echo of memories, a poorly written copy and you're completely defective." Her thumb coming up, she wiped away a tear that rolled down the silent girl's cheek. "You've never felt the texture of a leaf in your life, or tasted the cool air of fall." A smile was given, cold like the older woman's eyes but the voice continued to hold compassion, or was it mockery? _

_The little girl was too young to know the difference. _

"_You've never felt the warmth of the sun on your skin." Another tear was brushed away. "And you never will."_

_The lines grew thicker, distorting more as the light of the sun faded completely and everything took on a blue hue._

"_Please, why was I made?" Her small hand came up, little fingers closing around the wrist of the older woman as she watched her in desperation and only a smile was given for an answer._

"_I need you…" The young woman's voice echoed around them._

…

"Master Chief!" His name was called and his eyes opened slowly behind his orange visor and was met once again with that grated steel floor. "Master Chief unlock your armor!" The words were coming in, through static as he noticed the bright glow coming from his arm and fist, planted firmly on that floor.

"Spartan 117, unlock your armor, that is an order!" He recognized the voice of Sarah Palmer and gritted his teeth as he tried to get the suit to respond.

"I…can't…" The answer came from him in a growl. Was it malfunctioning? What had happened?

He had been walking towards one of the docks to have his armor removed and then his visor had gone on the fritz and in the next moment…

"_I need you."_ Blue lines danced across the screen in front of his eyes, and his eyes widened.

"Cortana?" His voice rumbled out softly, eyes searching the visor screen as the lines disappeared and that soft voice faded out.

"Master Chief." Palmer moved closer to him, hand reaching out to touch his shoulder as his armor unlocked, causing her to jump back as her shields were momentarily disabled. Letting out a curse she watched him stand, holding up a hand to the soldiers around them, Battle Rifles in hand, ordering them to stand down.

Glancing around he looked down to his palm then towards Palmer.

"Chief, are you alright?"

"It was a malfunction." Inclining his head towards her then straightened his shoulders. What had happened to him?

"Where is Captain Lasky?"

Her lips parted as her brows furrowed down in confusion. "The Captain returned to Earth this morning, the first shuttle out for shore leave."

"I need to speak with him."

"We can do that, there's a coms system on the way to the dock." Gesturing her hand the way they had been headed Chief was shaking his head.

"In person."

The technician he had been following then spoke up, computer pad in hand as she cleared her throat rather nervously. She had heard of the armors capabilities, had seen video of it in and out of combat but this was the first time she had seen a live demonstration of it. It had been amazing, and frightening all at once. "Sir, you're not clear to return to Earth without evaluation first, and no Spartan armor is allowed on the surface. No weapons of any kind except for the peacekeepers."

"The Peacekeepers?" It was strange of him, to ask a question to something he didn't know and not get a response from the female voice who kept him very well informed of everything that went on.

"They are-…" Her voice faded out almost as soon as she started talking and Chief shook his head slightly, hand coming up to tap against the side of his helmet.

"_**I**__ have defied Gods and Demons…"_

He felt strange as his chest seemed to tighten, blue eyes staring at the lines that waved across the inside of his visor, ears straining to hear the words.

"_I am your shield…I am your sword."_

"Cortana, where are you? Can you hear me?"

"This is UNSC A.I. Serial Number CTN0452-9." The voice of Cortana announced over the main communication systems in the ship, an eerie echo following it as silence fell over each and every crew member and soldier aboard. "...and I am a monument to all your sins." Master Chief looked up as the lights turned off, flooding the ship with endless darkness. Reaching up he flickered on his backup lights and turned his attention to the strained voice of the woman next to him.

"What in the…hell." Palmer hissed as the mechanical sounds of the ship stopped, leaving a deafening silence in its wake before the ship exploded with noise as people started to scramble around to see what happened.

"_I need you…"_

"I need to speak to Captain Lasky." Master Chief's deep voice rumbling out at her firmly this time.

"R-right." The solider nodded to him and turned to the technician. "Get a Pelican prepped for travel, we're going to Earth."

"But-…"

"That is an order." Palmer snapped as she turned to one of the teams. "And figure out what in the hell happened to the power."

"Sir." Turning on their heels, the others moved off quickly, small beams of lights flickering on from the suits and visors of the crew around and Sarah turned her eyes to Master Chief, regarding him silently as she stared at her own reflection in his orange visor.

…

Halsey stumbled from her quarters as the emergency lights flickered on. Data pad in her hand.

"Report." She snapped as she moved down the hallway quickly, shrugging on a coat, her silver hair a bit wild from sleep.

"Primary systems offline, secondary systems offline. Backup systems running primary resources only. Artificial gravity, oxygen systems, emergency lights, stabilizers."

"Communication systems?" Moving onto the main deck she slid her fingers over the Data pad, working quickly.

"Offline." The man's voice spoke over the main communication system in the ship.

"What happened?" Halsey turned her cold blue eyes to the crew as they worked to restore power.

"Doctor Halsey, it appears to have been some sort of electrical disturbance that came from the inside of the ship."

Her blood ran cold as her fingers stopped moving against the backlit screen to her data pad.

"Point of origin?"

"Research lab Alpha." The A.I. hadn't even finished speaking as she was turning on her heel and running from the main control room.

"Move." She snapped at crew members in her way. "Get out of the way." Snarling a bit she shoved a tall man to the side and stopped outside of the sealed room, pressing her palm to the access plate. "Open the door." She commanded the A.I.

"Working on getting the secondary power up and running."

"I said you open this door now." Halsey flicked her eyes to the camera on her face.

"Rerouting power now."

…

"_Can I go outside and play?" She watched out of the window, staring at the green grass as she stuck her chin in her hand. They had been studying for hours, and it was boring. _

"_No, we're going to finish this equation." The woman in front of her instructed and the young girl of twelve heaved a sigh, refocusing her eyes to lock onto her reflection. _

"_I'd rather know something else." Turning her gaze from the glass she looked at the silver haired woman, watching her with cold blue eyes._

"_What's that?"_

"_Why was I created?"_

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A/N: I'm so making this shit up as I go. I had this idea in my head and the more I write the more it changes. It's confusing right? Wow. So sorry about that. I can't wait to see where this goes because I really have no idea myself. Review and tell me what you think!

…Nuclotei


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